This weekend there was a fair for small independent viticulturists (um, aka wine makers) in Paris, and, although I spent way too much money already at the Salon du Livre this month, it's only twice a year! There are so many good wines to discover to accompany my culinary experiments.

First stop, Domaine Tancrez, a wine maker we discovered at our first Salon and we just keep coming back for their François 1er 2004. We bought a case :-) I mean I know that sounds bad, but last time it was worse! They had a sale for members: buy 12 bottles, get 6 for free, and we couldn't pass it up! The woman who runs the stand is really sweet and she even accepted to sell us two bottles of a her last case of a pinot noir called "Insolite" made from vines that are 90 years old! She was hoping to sell the last case all together, but we were so sad that she gave in and broke it open ;-)

Next, we tried some Crozes Hermitage wines and some muscat (a sweet wine that's often drunk either before a meal or with dessert). D. even bought me a bottle of muscat "oxydatif" (whatever that is) from Corsica because I fell in love with it, though it was a bit expensive. Is this coming out snobby -- I hope not! I've become Frenchified, ack!

Then, as we were on our way out, and I was protesting, no, no I don't think we're quite finished yet! D. saw Chateau de Briante: look Brouilly wines, let's try that stand! What a wonderful find. We really liked all the wines we tasted at the stand, plus the viticulteur was really nice and passionate about his wine so it was fun. He even has a blog about his wines with recipe suggestions! We bought 3 bottles to retaste over the next 6 months, but we'll definetly be going back there at the next fair!

30 March 2008

So here we are, D. and I, official owners of our very own 2 bedroom apartment in the 18th arrondissement ! Er, well I should say it WILL be a 2 bedroom apartment, but currently it's one heck of a mess (hence our ability to afford it). Now we have the major job (along with the builder who will be doing things we can't like demolishing and rebuilding walls), of redoing the apartment in the next few months. What does this have to do with recipes, Hopie, you ask? It's not like we come here to hear your life story!! Get to the chocolates! (Ok, see what happens: when you don't leave comments, I'm forced to make up conversations with you...not good!)

Well, I'm getting to that. So, for our first day of apartment work, the mission was to bring something to snack on that could be a reward for hard work, but also keep us going strong all Sunday afternoon. I've been meaning to test these Peanut Butter Chocolates from Jill at Simple Daily Recipes for a while and I thought, chocolate = reward, peanut butter = energy, this is PERFECT!

Unfortunately, I'm not quite as talented in the chocolate department as Jill because instead of coming out smooth and beautiful with that cute drip-dollop on top, mine came out all bumpy, saved only in a appearance by the toasted, shredded coconut I sprinkled on:

my pb/coconut chocolates

Where did I go wrong?? Well I mean, I didn't follow her recipe exactly, but I COULDN'T! Not all of the ingredients can be bought in France (chocolate chips for example). Even peanut butter is super expensive and imported from the US. And then, of course I had to add my own touches... :-)Mostly I had problems with the chocolate. I could tell that the first batch I melted was not the right consistency and I think that had to do with the mix of shortening and chocolate I used. I quickly shaped it into balls so as not to waste:

Then, I melted some more chocolate, this time just with a little water, which turned out better, but, OH NO, I overcooked it -- clumpy again! So I just globbed it onto my poor chocolates anyway... And it was delicious, if not very aesthetic.

Mix with and electric mixer, or cream well with a fork: peanut butter, oil, flour, powdered sugar, and margarine (you can leave out the oil if your peanut butter is very oily, or if you use creamy peanut butter). Finish with your fingers to form a ball of dough.

Line a plate or cookie sheet with wax paper. Using about 1 tsp of dough each time, roll into balls and place on wax paper. Chill in fridge until dough becomes firm (I did about 1/2 hour, but Jill says as little as 15min might work).

On low heat, or in a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the shortening. AS SOON AS it's melted, remove from heat and dip in peanut butter balls with the help of a fork. Coat evenly with chocolate (if you can!) and place back on wax paper. Use a small spoon to sprinkle toasted coconut on top and refrigerate until chocolate sets (10-15 minutes). Then stick them in a Tupperware and take them apartment redoing with you!

I spent three hours cleaning these windows and window frames that hadn't been cleaned in about about 10 years!! Thanks peanut butter chocolates!

27 March 2008

This weekend since I was sick, I asked my dear D. to buy me a roast chicken because 1. it's one of my favorite comfort foods, 2. it doesn't require a lot of energy to prepare (just cut off the pieces you want), 3. it makes more than one meal easily, and 4. chickens are roasting and smelling yummy at every corner butcher's, and D. was going right past my favorite (halal) butcher (I don't know what prayers he says over his meat but I'm 100% in favor because it's darn good!).

After cutting all the meat off the chicken, I was heading to the trash with the bones when I thought NO! STOP! Why waste? I can make chicken stock with them...never mind that I don't have a stock pot; never mind that my kitchen is the size of a (big) closet, and my freezer the size of a postage stamp, I'll just go ahead and do it. So, I made a small batch, and I might try roasting my vegetables first next time for a richer flavor, but it was not bad at all, all things considering.

The good thing about making your own stock is that it makes you feel very thrifty and if you're a New Englander born and bred (like me), you'll know how important that is! If you're well organized, you can use tons of stuff that you would throw away otherwise.

Thrift Tip: Wash your veggies before peeling them for cooking and save the peels, skins, ends, etc. in a freezer bag in the freezer for stock-making day.

So how to make stock? There are a million variations, but here's a place to start for the basics.

Chicken Stock

1 chicken carcass or a bunch of boneswater to cover (about 16 cups)3 onions, roughly chopped2-3 carrots, washed and roughly cut2-3 stems celery (with leaves), ditto3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half5 whole peppercorns1 bay leaf1 branch rosemary1 branch thyme(you can use a bouquet garni for the herbs if you feel up to making one)

(Keep in mind, you can use scraps too, and the leaves of the celery, the carrots, etc. if you like. The gloves are off, go crazy! You're going to filter it afterwards. You just want about as much water as solids.)

Put the chicken bones in a large (stock) pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered 2-3 hours, skimming off impurities regularly.

See, this foamy stuff is an example of what to skim off.

Add vegetables and herbs, bring back to a boil, and simmer uncovered 2 hours, skimming off impurities once every hour. Once you're done simmering, strain the stock into another pot (Joy of Cooking, my personal bible in the kitchen says to strain it through cheesecloth. I didn't have any so I just used a strainer, but the stock came out cloudier as a result -- so if you do have cheesecloth, go for it!), and place the pot with strained stock in a sink filled with cold water and ice cubes (this allows the stock to cool down quickly so you can refrigerate it without raising the temperature of your fridge). This is important because it's not good to leave the stock out for too long to collect bacteria. Refrigerate a couple hours, skim the fat off the top and use your stock or freeze it.

Healthy Stock Tip: You can freeze some stock in ice cube trays and use a cube of stock instead of butter or oil to stir fry with, or add to sauces.

For Vegetable Stock:

-Omit the chicken. (Yea, you probably figured that out on your own.)-Use the same vegetables as for chicken stock PLUS whatever other ones you want to add. (I'm a fan of leeks in stock, for example.)-But you can also try: mushrooms, corn, squash, potatoes, etc.-Watch out for: tomatoes (unless you want a very tomato-y broth), and relatives of the cabbage which are overpowering as well.-Simmer your veggie stock for about 1 hour. Unlike meat stock, which needs to be reduced, veggie stock doesn't and doing so can make the stock bitter.-Strain, cool, and freeze for later use!

24 March 2008

I've been thinking about conversions, as I do often while cooking in Paris, (although I haven't posted about it since my early measurement conversions post) and I thought it might be helpful to list some common ingredients that are not found in France or the USA and what I use to substitute. I'm sure this will be an ongoing project, and I will make posts as I think of things. Or, if you have substitution or conversion questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know!

23 March 2008

First of all, happy Easter to those who celebrate it today. My Easter recipes will be on Greek Orthodox schedule -- which is a whole month later this year. Unfortunately, since I've been sick this weekend, there won't be any Sunday baking today (good time to browse, dig up recipes you haven't tried). But I imagine if you're celebrating Easter, you're done with your baking (no??), and if it's just another Sunday for you, well, sleep in, relax, and then go smell some flowers, 'cause spring is on the way!

En français ici.Well the temperature here has gone back down after a couple days of warmer weather last week. (Actually the weather's been highly schizophrenic - reminds me of New England, although less cold for the time of year of course.) So, I've been craving warming, comfort food again, and have convinced D.K. to make one of my favorite dishes, a cheesy potato dish with smoked salmon. It's a twist on a typical french dish that we call potatoes au gratin, and that the French call gratin dauphinois. Luckily for us, D. has agreed to share this recipe that I might, if I felt like living on the edge (which I do), call gratin delphinois. ;-) Enjoy!

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into round slices. Cook in boiling water 15-20 minutes until tender.

2. Meanwhile mix together the crème fraîche (or sour cream) and the cheese in a bowl.

3. Preheat the oven to 375F.

4. Oil the bottom of a baking pan and spread a first layer of potatoes, followed by a layer of salmon and then a layer of the cream and cheese mix. Repeat this process for the second layer and pour white wine over the top. (You can serve the rest of the bottle with dinner!)

5. Cook in oven for about 15 minutes and serve hot (with a green salad if you like).

16 March 2008

En français ici.I spent my weekend at the Salon du Livre here in Paris, a huge 5-day fair of publishers, authors, editors, bookstores and everything related to books. As a result, cooking was down to a minimum, just the essentials for a picnic like these sandwiches, which I made yesterday with ham, sun-dried tomatoes and avocado, and today with ham, goat cheese and avocado. Both were infinitely better (if I do say so myself) and less expensive than the food sold at the fair. But what about a little something to snack on during a pause in book-browsing, you ask? True, meeting authors and buying books and checking out the new (and actually frighteningly seductive) technologies for future reading make one awfully hungry!

Soooo, this morning it was chained-to-the oven until I came up with the perfect baked good for the event. The result:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.2. Melt butter in a small pot on low heat, or in the microwave.3. While butter is melting, whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until foamy on top.4. Add orange zest and vanilla extract and whisk to blend them in.5. Without stirring, add the flour, almond powder, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir the dry ingredients a bit on top first. Then fold them into the wet ingredients, adding the melted butter.6. Pour into greased (or silicone - if you have a cool sister who gave you silicone molds for Christmas) madeleine tins and bake for 10-15min, until madeleines are golden-brown on top.

They're perfect for a goûter, a picnic (indoor probably at this time of year) or afternoon tea with a good book (they go well with books - I tested!).

13 March 2008

En français ici.When I saw a recipe for Spicy Coconut Noodles on Tea's cooking blog, I was seduced by it's use of coconut milk. Yes, I find coconut milk...attractive ;-) You'd just have to take a look at the kitchen cabinet after a sale on coconut milk at the supermarket to know what I mean. D. doesn't see WHY we need to buy enough coconut milk to feed an army on...well, coconut milk, let's say, but is soon dissuaded from making fun when I make recipes like this!

This recipe might look exotic, but it's the new comfort food around here for those rainy, cold, windy days we've been having a lot recently. Just trust me and give it a try. You'll see.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, combine coconut milk, tomato paste, cayenne pepper, chili pepper and salt. Bring to a boil and add the chicken or tofu. Turn down heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked (about 10min) or tofu is warmed through (about 5min). (If using tofu, you might want to brown it first in a little butter or oil to make the texture more interesting, but it's up to you.)

While the chicken or tofu is simmering, you might take this time to toast the shredded coconut in a dry frying pan, stirring until light brown. Once chicken or tofu is cooked, add lime juice and noodles to the saucepan and toss. Serve noodles and top with bean sprouts (if using), scallions, mint and shredded coconut.

12 March 2008

I know what you're saying to yourself : I LOVE Hopie's Kitchen, but what do I do on the days Hopie doesn't post. I need my cooking fix!! Well...I've recently had the pleasure of joining two blogrolls exclusively for cooking blogs.

and

To get your recipe dose for the day, just click on the links and take a look around! There are lots of cooking blogs, general and specialized, with tons of yummy ideas. And if you have a cooking blog yourself, you should join!

09 March 2008

En français ici.My littlest sister is a bit of a genius when it comes to baking. Well, she's a bit of a genius in general I have to say (proud big-sister moment), but when it comes to desserts: cookies, cakes, scones etc., she's definetly got it down. So, when I asked her if she had any recipes she was enjoying lately, and she sent me this recipe for "Miniature Raspberry Almond Tarts", I ran to the kitchen and started making them (well, I had to get a few ingredients first, but honestly I didn't even wait 'till my next shopping day)! Of course I made some of my own adjustments, substituting some yummy fig jam made by D's mother, rather than raspberry...

For Sunday Baking today, I'm posting a copy of her email (in italics), complete with her suggestions (in red), and my suggestions (in purple, as per usual). Got all that? Here we go!

Hopie,This is from Odense.com. Odense is a company that makes almond paste, conveniently in tubes that are JUST the right size for their recipes. I hate to succumb to such blatant advertising, but it's hard not to when the recipes are so delicious. :-)

Ingredients for filling:1/3 cup red raspberry preserves (Here's where I used fig jam, yum)7 oz. almond paste (don't know if you can get Odense in Paris, but in America it should be in the baking aisle - you can't, i used 200g of some very colorful almond paste that I DID find in the baking aisle)3/4 cup sugar3 large egg yolks1/3 cup all-purpose flour3 Tbsp milk1 Tbsp fresh orange juice (I didn't have any, I used mango juice)1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment: (but don't worry too much if you don't have exactly this stuff)mini cupcake panselectric mixer

box grater

1. Mix butter and cream cheese (with electric mixer or a fork) until well-combined.2. Add the flour and mix again until blended. Shape into a ball. Flatten, wrap well in plastic and refrigerate for one hour.3. Divide chilled dough into 1" balls. Press the balls into the bottoms and up the sides of the tart pans, forming the shells4. Preheat oven to 400F. Place about 1 tsp raspberry (or fig, or other) preserves into the bottom of each shell.5. Grate the almond past. (Hope, the original recipe says you should grate it on the large-hole side of a box grater and then mix it in a food processor, but if you don't have one - I don't - you should grate the paste as small as possible and use the electric mixer - or a good fork.)6. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.7. Mix in flour, milk, orange juice, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.8. Spoon filling on top of jam. (Hope, there's a temptation here to put in a lot of filling, - true! - but you have to keep it within the shell or the tarts will fall apart when you take them out - also the filling will bubble over and stick the tarts to the pans mercilessly!)9. Bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and a deep golden color.10. Cool tarts on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove tarts from pans and keep cooling on racks.

One more note: these often don't look very appetizing, but they taste DELICIOUS, especially with milk. Many times I've had people look at them rather askance until they try them, and then they always want more.Yesh chsey uur dulisouch! What? Sorry, my mouth was full of yummy mini tart.I don't know if you all noticed, but you only use the egg yolks in this recipe...and you know what that means... it'll be meringues for me this week!! ;-) Two desserts in one. Oh, so good.Happy baking!

The theme of the class was Indian Food, and, although I've since gotten very into cooking Indian and have a lot of the basics down, I recently came back to this, one of my first ever Indian-recipe experiences. This soup is absolutely delicious, can be made very spicy or not, with chicken or vegetarian. It seemed very complicated to me at the time, and I've simplified it some, although it still takes a little patience... well worth it though!

- Combine the lentils, chicken stock and turmeric in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. (I actually bring water to a boil in a kettle - which is faster - and then pour 8 cups of it over the 2 cups of lentils - once the pot is hot - and add the bouillon and turmeric.) Turn down heat, cover (leaving lid slightly ajar) and simmer gently for about 20 min.

- Meanwhile back at the farm...(er, while the soup simmers), peel the potatoes and cut into small pieces and put aside. Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces, put into a bowl, sprinkle salt and pepper on it and toss. Put aside. After the soup has cooked about 20 min., add the potatoes and re-cover, simmering until potatoes are cooked (about another 20min.).

- During the second simmering period, heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add the chopped garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Fry, stirring continuously, until the spice mixture starts to brown. Put in the chicken pieces and stir another few minutes until the chicken starts to firm up. Add 1 cup water (I had some extra coconut milk lying around and substituted it for the water with yummy results) and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down heat and simmer 7-10mn until the chicken is cooked.

- Once the potatoes are done, remove soup from heat and purée it if you want everything nice and smooth. Then pour in chicken and spice mixture. Add the lemon juice. Taste for seasonings. If it's too thick you can add broth or water to thin it out.

- Put in bowls (garnish with cilantro, if you can stand the stuff, or perhaps parsley if you're like me) and EAT IT!

***For the VEGETARIAN or VEGAN version, cook the potatoes in the spice mixture instead of the chicken and add them to the soup only at the end. They may take a bit longer to cook than the chicken and/or need a bit more water.

02 March 2008

This week, my Sunday baking recipe is adapted from another cooking blog that I enjoy reading. Seeing as I had a bit of wine left at the bottom of the bottle today, I tested Johanna's red wine chocolate cake (with my own touch) and was extremely happy with the results.

This cake is sinfully easy to make, and doesn't require hard-to-find ingredients (especially now that I've adapted it for stuff you find in America). It comes together in 10 minute (15 max) and cooks for 20-30. No sooner you decide you MUST have it, than it's practically made! Perfect for those gray sick-of-winter days in March: wine cake, a nice cup of tea or coffee, a book.... sigh.

Ingredients:

-1 cup salted butter-4 eggs-1/2 cup sugar-1/4 brown sugar lightly packed(Note : she uses a type of granulated brown sugar called 'cassonade' -- see photo -- I propose a mix of white and brown to get the same taste and consistency in the US, but you can look for caster sugar if you like)-1 tsp vanilla extract-1 1/3 cup flour-2 tsp baking powder-1/2 cup red wine (she says go ahead and use the cheap stuff -- although she's talking about cheap French wine...which is not so cheap in America ;-) so it's up to you)-1 tsp cinnamon-4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa diluted in 4 Tbsp hot water

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.2. Melt the butter (on the stove on low heat or in the microwave)3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until you get a small layer of foam on top.4. "Dump" all the other ingredients on top (as Johanna would say) - including the melted butter.5. Mix until smooth and pour into a greased cake pan. You can use whatever fun mold you're partial to. I simply used an 8X8 square baking dish -- AND I forgot to grease it, but it came out fine.6. Cook at 325F for 25-30 min: top a bit crunchy, and the middle, nice and spongy.

I sprinkled the cake with powdered sugar when serving, which was yummy. :-) Happy baking.